Break My Heart 1,000 Times Blog Tour Redux

And here are the last couple stops on the blog tour:

I discuss a few songs I listened to while writing BMH1Kx at Largehearted Boy HERE

I answer still more questions at Once Upon a Twilight HERE

And I rather bravely discuss a few Halloween costumes I have worn and even more bravely provide an eminently mockable photo of one such costume, circa 1986, at Supernatural Snark HERE

Thanks for reading!  It has been fun!

Break My Heart 1,000 Times Blog Tour

Wow, have I been busy!

I tell a true ghost story at Monster Librarian HERE.

I answer some questions at I Am a Reader, Not a Writer HERE.  Plus, there's a giveaway!

I write about writing at Sara's Urban Fantasy Blog HERE. Plus, there's a giveaway!

I answer more questions at Oodles of Books HERE. Plus, there's a giveaway!

I write about true ghost stories at Sophistikatied Reviews HERE. Plus, there's a giveaway!

I answer even more questions at Tynga's Reviews HERE. Plus, there's a giveaway!

I write about some ghost stories I admire at Mundie Moms HERE.

I answer still more questions at The Daily Fig HERE.

And now, I sleep. But stay tuned--there a few stops left on the tour!

Spooky, Spooky Reading

I've always been an obsessive reader, one who observed certain self-imposed rituals that are either a guard against insanity or proof of its existence.  As long as I've been reading, I've made the month of October Spooky Reading Month, and I plan for Spooky Reading Month with an administrative discipline not found in other aspects of my life (like, say, career and family).  The most important aspect of Spooky Reading Month is the Amassing of Spooky Reads, where, months in advance, I'll begin acquiring scary books to read.  Doesn't matter if I buy the book in January, and it looks like the greatest scary book ever written, I'll hold off on reading it until October.  This helps heighten both the anticipation and the tension, and so by the time I finally open the book to read there's already a nervous thrill in my chest that I'm certain augments the feelings of suspense I have while reading.  I can remember October's past where I would overdose on certain authors; Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson (although there was also the major disappointment--on Mischief Night, no less-- of discovering that the latter's Raising Demons isn't actually about diabolical conjuration, but is a heartwarming memoir on parenting).

The personal crown jewel, for me, of any Spooky Reading Month was a ghost story.  I love l-u-v ghost stories.  If I had a dozen horror novels to read for SRM, I would save the ghost story for last, the special treat to be unwrapped late on Halloween Night (with a Zagnut, if I was lucky enough to get one in my door to door plundering).

Break My Heart 1,000 Times is exactly the sort of story I'd have saved for the end of Spooky Reading Month; it is the ghost story I have been wanting to write since I wanted to write. It is the scariest story I've yet written and I hope you will add it to your own Spooky Reading Month TBR stack when it comes out this October 16th.  I hope it haunts you the way it haunts me.

I'm doing a blog tour this month at a variety of high quality literary reader, reviewer and blog sites.  I'll be sharing stories about one of the actual ghosts I've encountered, I'll write about some of my favorite ghost stories, I'll be answering some questions about BMH1kx and writing in general,and I'll discuss some of the wacky Halloween costumes I've worn over the years.  It will be fun--we'll get all sugared up and visit some haunted houses!  Choose your masks!

Stay tuned, and I will post links to the blog tour stops as they arrive...

My Corporeal Book Tour

In addition to my oh so spectral blog tour, I will be appearing in a non-astral form at the following exciting events:

October 28th Boston Teen Author Festival, Boston, info here: BOSTON TEEN AUTHOR FESTIVAL

November 3rd, Vegas Valley Book Festival, Las Vegas, info here: VEGAS VALLEY BOOK FESTIVAL

Maybe I'll do some more stuff in New England if I'm invited. Especially if you have some type of event that has swanky hors d'oeuvres, or maybe a functional commemorative pen. I'd probably settle for you just having my books in stock. But I won't beg you.

 In other news, October is anti-bullying month (no, that doesn't mean you get to beat up a bully). One of the Kindle special sale books is the Dear Bully anthology, in which I reveal the Secret Origin of the Generation Dead series. Is the series from a Krypton-like planet? Was it bitten by a radioactive zombie? Was it splashed by a cabinet full of chemicals while simultaneously being struck by lightning? (Hint: it has something to do with bullying). Find out the truth (and read 69 other short and wonderful essays) for a very low price all October.

 Stay tuned for Blog Tour news!

Break My Heart 1,000 Times Reviews and Interviews

Will these reviews break my heart? See for yourself: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY RIFFS AND REVIEWS Will this interview reveal how many times my own heart has been broken? THE MILITANT RECOMMENDER Lots of linkage will follow over the next month--I'm going on a Blog Tour! Wheeeeee! Time to pack!

Other People's Blogs and Giveaway

I did a guest post over at The Bookish Brunette, a blog that--without hyperbole--contains some of the best book blogging I have read of late, especially for YA (the blog in general, not necessarily my post). If you would like a chance to win the signed copy of Passing Strange that we are giving away, or you are curious as to what the title of my first non-GD novel from Disney will be, check out my post at The Bookish Brunette!

This Year Will be Different, part XLII. And Also, Please Help Me Out With This

2011 is already giving me every indication of being a banner year, writing career-wise. The first week of the year is just over I've already had a couple of pieces of good news regarding some future publications that I'll be blogging about in the near future.

I did my usual year-end review of the past, and decided that it was a pretty good year overall, goal-wise. A few of the goals I knocked off last year: selling our house, buying a new house, and moving (about 98% of the credit for these accomplishments goes to my beautiful wife, who was able to handle contractors, realtors, inspectors and an insane husband with grace and aplomb). I was also able to scratch "Foreign language publication" off my list, in a year that saw Generacion Dead and Beso de Vida released in Spain. I was thrilled to have a short story published in the Kiss Me Deadly anthology, fulfilling yet another long-held goal. I didn't hit my whole list--in fact, I failed miserably at a number of the things I wanted to achieve--but, onward and upward. Bury your dead (unless they are differently biotic dead) and move on.

The second part of my New Years' ritual is the annual gaze into the future Looks bright, very bright. Note to self: buy sunglasses, wear sunscreen. I try to project what I want my year to look like and what I want to accomplish. I delivered my goals for the next year to myself (I'm a stern taskmaster) a few hours before the ball dropped. Or the Snooki dropped. Whatever it was we dropped this year. I reviewed what I had submitted, and we decided that the fifteen goals that I'd submitted were good ones. A nice mix of creative, business, family and personal goals, a few of them were holdovers from last year that I didn't accomplish--I'm determined to do a film project and a comic book/graphic novel project, and although I've done a lot of blah blah blah about both, nothing has happened yet.

I enjoy this process, I really do. And it always seems something like magic to me when one of the goals clicks into place--last week, just a few days after writing them, the mechanism to complete goal #4 clicked into place, clear out of the blue.

Anyhow, here's where the "please help me out" comes in. A bit of patience, if you please.

One of my goals, #14 is

"Renew focus on my Internet/Blog/Social Media Presence"

What does that mean, exactly? And why is that a goal for me?

Well, here's what it means now:

A.Continue to answer all reader emails and Facebook posts (I do pretty good with this one. I might miss a few, but I try my best)

B.Blog on DanielWaters.com at 52 times this year (I did horribly last year; 23 blogs in 2010, down from 77 the year before)

C.Have Tommy and the gang blog on mysocalledundeath.com 26 times this year (again, horrible--12, down 28 from last years' 40)

D. Update my status on Facebook three or four times a week (I probably do something like that now)

E. Continue to do the occasional online interview/guest blog when invited and schedule permits. I think I did a dozen or so of these last year, the most recent of which is Here at The Book Smugglers and is about my favorite YA book of the year.

I guess that is actually a bunch of little goals within the bigger/vague-er goal. So, why? Why do I want to commit myself to doing all that work this year?

Mainly because of something I realized when I went weeks and sometimes even months without blogging:

I miss it.

I miss it. I like blogging, and I love the interactivity of blogging; I said a lot of what I wanted to say about the topic in this School Library Journal Article Here and I'm kind of shocked, embarrassed and disappointed with myself for being such a slacker. Yeah, Inner Voice #8 is saying, you moved, you took a job, you have pre-teen kids, etc. etc. And then Inner Voices #3 and #7 say, "Shut up, inner voice #8. We don't make excuses here. And will you please put the cap back on the soda bottle tightly?"

So, a plea for help. Help keep me honest and on track with my goal. And if you are so inclined, let me know what you like me to blog about, and what bores the heck out of you. Let me know wheat it is that you like in your "Internet Relationships" with other authors, and what you don't (I should mention that I'm a little scared of Twitter; let me know if I need to get over that fear. Should I do a newsletter? Write about what I'm reading? Write about writing? Offer a free story here and there? Write about writing about writing? Create humorous videos? More dog photos (we have a second beagle now). Music? As I type this, "The Living Dead" by the London Suede is on, appropriately enough. That song nearly always moves me to tears. I'm thinking I should pretty up this site a bit, too. What else should I be doing? What do you think?

What do you think?

I'd like to end with a shout out to Brendan Halpin, who's blog Here directly inspired my fourteenth goal.